Part of what makes Kossola’s life story unique is that he was among the last Africans captured and taken to the US via the Middle Passage to be enslaved. The Middle Passage refers to the journey across the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the Americas specifically for the transport of enslaved Africans. According to the Library of Congress, “more than 10 million people were enslaved and transported from Africa to the Americas” (Beginnings: Exploration and Colonization, Library of Congress). On this forced journey, captives were forced to travel in the hold of the ship, typically under cramped, unsanitary, and violent conditions. More than a million people died during the voyage. The Middle Passage constituted part of the “triangular trade” route that also included Europe, where goods were exported.

The practice of capturing people from Africa and taking them to the Americas (and elsewhere) to be enslaved is known as the trans-Atlantic slave trade, making reference, again, to that Middle Passage journey across the Atlantic. The trans-Atlantic slave trade began on a large scale in the 15th century, when the Portuguese sought African labor. Other European nations such as Great Britain, The Netherlands, France, and Spain entered the trade as well, looking for laborers for the new colonies they were establishing.